Monday, April 30, 2012

Nature
vs. Nurture has been a topic that has cause a lot of controversy for the past
30 years. The case became more popular when “David Reimer” decided to share his
personal experience with the world. The case talks about how “David” had to go
through a surgery that would change his life and the person he became. This
case raised many questions in the science field that at this moment haven’t
been answered yet.

“David” had to go
through a “sex reassignment surgery” when he was just 22 months old because his
penis was destroyed by a surgery when he was 8 months old. “David” had an
identical twin brother but didn’t have to face any of the problems that “David”
had to face because his penis didn’t suffer any damage. Since there was nothing
doctors could do to save “David’s” penis, they decided to raise him as a girl
since he was still a baby, he wouldn’t have to know the truth.

“David’s”
transition from a boy to a girl began when he was 22 months old. The first step
was to remove his testes. He also had to take hormone that would “help” him
feel like a girl instead of a boy. It would help him grow breast and look more
like a girl. What proceeded after this surgery and the intake of hormones was a
series of psychological consultations that would help “David” through the whole
process.

Dr.
Money was the surgeon in charge of the procedure of “sex reassignment surgery”
and the psychological consultations that would help “David” grow up as a normal
girl. The methods that Dr. Money used were clearly not the right way to treat
this case. He would use the twins and force them to practice sexual acts. He
would make them practice different positions where he would let each know what
the role of the girl (David) was. He thought that by showing them what the role
of the girl and boy were, “David” will adapt easier to his “gender”. Dr. Money's rationale for these various treatments was his belief that "childhood 'sexual rehearsal play'" was important for a "healthy adult gender identity"

Dr.
Money reported that this case was going exceptional. Everything was going as
planned and “David” was acting like the girl he was supposed to be. But as time
passed, “David” refused to go visit Dr. Money and fell into depression. His
condition kept increasing and got to the point where he attempted to commit
suicide many times. His parents decided to tell him the truth about his gender.
“David” decided to stop taking the hormones which made him feel like a girl and
took the decision to change his gender back to a boy.

“David”
had to go through many operations and treatments in order to reverse the reassignment
he went through in order to become a girl. “David” revealed that the hormones
he took that were supposed to help him “feel” like a girl didn’t work because
he never felt like a “female”. Neither the girly clothes he would wear. The
whole “treatment” he went through, the hormones, the change of gender, the way
he was raised, the clothes he would wear and the psychological therapies he
attended did not succeed by trying to make him feel like a girl because he
admitted that he never felt like a female. The whole “experiment” was a
failure.

In
the society that we live in there are certain “rules” that each gender has to
follow in order to fit in. For example, the roles of a woman include being in
charge of the house, the kids, and take care of their husband are a few of the
roles a woman has to follow. Whereas a man is supposed to take care of his
family by providing them with a roof, food and do take care of the physical
work around the house. These are the roles children grow up learning and they
are “forced” to think that that’s how things work around.

Being
a male or a female becomes a significant part of one’s identity. Sex is
determined by genetic makeup. Children are exposed to these roles since they
are babies. Girls are given dolls; they wear dresses and play with other girls.
They are unconsciously being put to the idea that they have to take care of the
house and their children by playing with dolls as little girls. Whereas boys are given cars, video games, they
play manly sports like football, soccer, etc., where they have to use their
physical strength more thus making them “manly”.

There
are many factors that shape people’s identity. For example, TV plays a big role
in children’s lives. Children are exposed to cartoons at a very young age. We
can see how cartoons and TV shows teach children how to behave. For example,”
Dora The Explorer” teaches kids to help other in need. “The Simpsons” taught
boys that they have to break rules and behave like the bad-type like “Bart
Simpson”. Whereas “Lisa Simpson” was calm and very studious and followed rules
like girls should. TV shows shape the way children act as a young age and that
is an example they follow during their lives.

Another
big factor that shapes the identity of a person is in the atmosphere they grow
up in. If the family is supportive and comprehensive then it’s more likely for
a person to go against the rules because they are not forced into believing or
doing something against their will. But if the family and friends are stricter
on their beliefs it would be harder for a person to go against them.

Society
shapes people to act and be a certain way. People are afraid of what other
people are going to say and think about them that they are forced to change
their ways. People prefer to be part of the “norm” and follow whatever people
think or say is the right thing to do. People need to feel accepted by society
that they would change the way they are and think just to please their families
and the community where they belong.

This
case raised many questions whether scientist can cheat nature and change the
way people are born. Well clearly the case of “David” turned out a failure. Dr.
Money tried playing the role of “God” by thinking that he could change the identity
of “David” Dr. Money didn’t realize there were many factors that prove that his
theory wouldn’t work. For example, “David” being an identical twin and sharing
the same genes, was obviously going to noticed differences on the way he felt.
Being a twin myself, I can see how connected my twin and I are. We are not
identical twins but we can feel and share many traits with each other. I can
only imagine how “David”, being an identical twin, connected with his twin and
the way he was more than the person he was supposed to be.

Clearly
Dr. Money didn’t know the difference between being raised in a certain way and
actually being born a certain way. You cannot cheat Mother Nature. People are
born a certain way and there’s nothing that can change that. You can change the
way someone looks but cannot change the way they feel. Nature is the identity we
are born with and it’s impossible to change that identity. However, nurture
makes us believe differently. Our environment shapes us to be the people we are
“suppose” to be and we believe that’s who we are and we take that identity to
be part of us.

Identity
is a thing that can easily be confused by experiences and our surroundings. One
thing that we can be sure about is that no matter what we go through, the way
we feel inside can never be changed. In my opinion, I believe that Nature and
Nurture go hang by hand. Yes, we are born with a certain identity by the way we
are raised gives us a different identity. We need to learn how to combine these
two different identities. That’s the only way we can be sure that we are
actually the person we are born and believe to be.

Monday, April 16, 2012

After discussing the book in class, I started thinking more about "Nature vs. Nurture". I find this topic very fascinating. How can a person really know which one is right? It seems like Dr. Money thought he could do God's job, and cheat nature, but in my opinion, nature can't be cheated. Yes, maybe technology and medicine have taken a big step since then, but even now, I don't think humans are ready to do something close to changing how a person can feel. I also learned to consider how "gender identity" plays a big role on who you are. Society expects you to act the way you look. If you are born a girl, you have certain standards to follow. But what I learned is that the way you look does not identify the person you are. One example that has played a big role and is very controversial is homosexuality. In homosexuality, you like a person of the same gender. Which means you are born in the "wrong" body. We can clearly see, that homosexual people didn't go through the process David went as a little kid. They connect with the opposite sex more than with the gender they were born into. They don't suffer, as much, psychological trauma as David because they weren't forced to be someone who they are not, they were born that way. No one, not even the most prestigious doctor in the world, can change how you feel inside. Yes, you may look a certain way on the outside, but you can be someone else on the inside.

Monday, April 9, 2012

After I finished reading the book, I started questioning whether what the doctors and parents of Bruce did was wrong. Of course, Bruce's parents wanted the best for him and were just looking after him. The Dr. just wanted to be known as someone who took a big step into science. This is a HUGE case dealing with "Nature vs. Nurture". In my opinion, I think nature will, most of the time, win over nurture. Nature is something you are born with, you don't have to learn it, you are already know it. Nurture teaches you to do things a certain way. That's what went wrong in the case of Bruce. Although he was taught to act and look like a girl, he never felt like one. Deep inside he knew he was different. How can someone know they're not supposed to be the person they were taught to be? That's how big and mysterious science is. You can't cheat nature.

In the book "Persepolis" we can see how space affects the way Marjane views the world. Everything she goes through, shapes her to do the things she does. Different spaces get different reactions. One of the best examples about space is where she lives when she was a little girl. Marjane lived in Iran as a little girl. From reading the book, we know that in Iran, women didn't have a voice at all. Whatever they wanted to do, they had to get their husband's consent before doing it. This mostly occur in public places because it was against the "norms". The decisions Marjane made were influenced by the people around her. But once she moved away from Iran, Marjane realized that people didn't have to tell her what to do because she had the choice to decide what she wanted to do. The space she was in now, made her realize that things change and don't always have to be the same in every place. She was not able to control her life instead of being controlled.